NY Daily Record Since 1908
Michael Avenatti and Stormy Daniels are parting ways.
Daniels said in a tweet that she has retained Tulsa-based attorney Clark Brewster as her personal attorney and has asked him to review all legal matters involving her.
“Upon completion of Mr. Brewster’s review and further consultation with me, I anticipate Mr. Brewster will serve as my primary counsel on all legal issues,” she said.
Avenatti, who had been representing the adult-film actress in two lawsuits against President Donald Trump, confirmed Tuesday that Daniels is no longer his client.
“On February 19, we informed Stormy Daniels in writing that we were terminating our legal representation of her for various reasons that we cannot disclose publicly due to the attorney-client privilege,” Avenatti said in a statement posted on Twitter. “This was not a decision we made lightly and it came only after lengthy discussion, thought and deliberation, as well as consultation with other professionals.”
He added: “We wish Stormy all the best.”
Neither Avenatti nor Daniels, whose given name is Stephanie Clifford, responded to requests for comment.
One of the lawsuits Daniels had filed against Trump sought to invalidate a 2016 nondisclosure agreement aimed at preventing her from speaking about an affair that she says she had with Trump a decade ago.
That lawsuit was dismissed last week, with U.S. District Court Judge S. James Otero ruling that a decision by Trump and his former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, not to enforce the agreement had rendered Daniels’s case moot.
Cohen has told prosecutors that Trump asked him to pay Daniels $130,000 before the 2016 election to buy her silence. Trump denies the alleged affair.
The other lawsuit was dismissed by a federal judge in October. In it, Daniels had argued that Trump defamed her when he suggested that she had lied about being threatened to keep quiet about their alleged past relationship.
Otero ruled that Trump’s “rhetorical hyperbole” was political in nature and ordered Daniels to pay Trump more than $293,000 in legal fees.
